We visited the Slow Boat making waves along our canal network that's a must visit for art lovers

A floating art studio that travels along the West Midlands canal network is back on our waterways.

The Slow Boat route has been designed by members of Ikon Youth Programme (IYP) which consists of emerging artists, curators, musicians, writers and creatives aged 16–21.

• Read more: We visit Wolverhampton Arts Centre ahead of refurbishment plans thanks to new funding

The Slow Boat has docked in Wolverhampton but will travel 150 miles (241km) along the region’s network. The boat is owned by Sandwell Council, and its mooring space is in Tipton. The project is supported by Freelands Foundation.

“We visit quite a lot of different regional art school locations,” said Lucy Grubb, Ikon Youth Programme coordinator. “So we're in Wolverhampton today, but then later on in September time we’ll be in Coventry, and then in August we’ll be in Birmingham city centre. So it's really important that we're engaging with local art school rhetorics, local art school conversations. But within that we really like to engage with the canal system and the history of all the local areas.”

Dharmendra Parmar, Ikon Slow Boat coordinator and boatmaster, explained: “The Slow Boat is an open space, gallery space and workshop space. We travel around the West Midlands, engaging in different art organisations, education authorities, and use it as a floating space for delivering workshops with artists local and further afield.”

MrParmar shared the realities of what it’s like working on board.

“Everybody thinks it's quite an easy life, but there's more than meets the eye! We have a real competent crew. We try to continue the education side by developing our crew members. We put them through courses, we give them another string to the bow, so that they learn more about the water networks.”

Here is the full list of West Midlands places where you can catch the boat until September:

• Wolverhampton (April 1 – May 1)
• Tipton (May 11 – May 24)
• Stourbridge (June 1 - 13)
• Halesowen (June 22 – July 4)
• Smethwick (July 11 – 19)
• Birmingham (July 27 – August 30)
• Coventry (September 7 – 26)

Check out the Slow Boat in a few pictures below: